We got covered in Fundamatics. Fundamatics is a publication of the IIT Bombay Alumni Association, envisioned as one that is by IIT Bombay (IITB) alumni, faculty and students, and for the same vast community. It is a platform that aims to build interaction and engagement within this community, as well as a window that enables different segments of this community to “look out” and air their views and opinions on issues that concern IITB, our society, industry and the nation.
We tried a narrative approach of describing our design process and it was super fun and exciting.
Extract of the article :
On a bus journey…
Elderly wise man (E): “ So where are you heading?” Me (M): “Hampi, sir!”
E: “Ah! Are you hoping to find any treasure?” M: “Didn’t think about ‘that’ sir! Why?”
E: “In our times, people searched for precious stones, gold that were dropped or hidden when the wealth was moved…in Hampi.” M: “Really?”
E: “Yes! What do you do?” M: “I design things, like objects.”
E: “ I see, what are you designing now?” M: “I am designing a board game, like chess, ludo…”
E: “ Why are you traveling to Hampi?” M: “In search of a story.”
E: “Why a story? I do not see any stories in chess or ludo. They are just moving pawns.” M: “You are right, but people believe in stories sir, without it the game is an abstract competition. The story gives it a context, it creates a space for the player to pretend in an alternate world and they tend to stay for a longer time.”
E: “I see, but why are you designing this?” M: “I researched a bit on this, I feel – when I read books, it’s usually the author who entertains you, but when you play, you entertain yourself. We essentially like to play and pretend. When I was a kid, during summer vacations, my aunt used to get us games to play indoors and make us avoid the hot sun. We learned to agree, challenge, share, compete, help, and had great fun playing games.”